Quotes from The Mysterious Island

“It is a great misfortune to be alone, my friends; and it must be believed that solitude can quickly destroy reason.”
― Jules Verne, quote from The Mysterious Island

“It seems wisest to assume the worst from the beginning...and let anything better come as a surprise.”
― Jules Verne, quote from The Mysterious Island

“Before all masters, necessity is the one most listened to, and who teaches the best.”
― Jules Verne, quote from The Mysterious Island

“What pen can describe this scene of marvellous horror; what pencil can portray it?”
― Jules Verne, quote from The Mysterious Island

“So is man's heart. The desire to perform a work which will endure, which will survive him, is the origin of his superiority over all other living creatures here below. It is this which has established his dominion, and this it is which justifies it, over all the world.”
― Jules Verne, quote from The Mysterious Island

“All great actions return to God, from whom they are derived.”
― Jules Verne, quote from The Mysterious Island

“What a big book, captain, might be made with all that is known!"
"And what a much bigger book still with all that is not known!”
― Jules Verne, quote from The Mysterious Island

“He who is mistaken in an action which he sincerely believes to be right may be an enemy, but retains our esteem.”
― Jules Verne, quote from The Mysterious Island

“In presence of Nature's grand convulsions man is powerless.”
― Jules Verne, quote from The Mysterious Island

“Man is never perfect, nor contended.”
― Jules Verne, quote from The Mysterious Island

“Solitude, isolation, are painful things, and beyond human endurance.”
― Jules Verne, quote from The Mysterious Island

“The colonists had no library at their disposal; but the engineer was a book which was always at hand, always open at the page which one wanted, a book which answered all their questions, and which they often consulted.”
― Jules Verne, quote from The Mysterious Island

“Are we rising again?" "No. On the contrary." "Are we descending?" "Worse than that, captain! we are falling!”
― Jules Verne, quote from The Mysterious Island

“One's native land!―there should one live! there die!”
― Jules Verne, quote from The Mysterious Island

“Are we rising again?" "No. On the contrary." "Are we descending?" "Worse than that, captain! we are falling!" "For Heaven's sake heave out the ballast!" "There! the last sack is empty!" "Does the balloon rise?" "No!" "I hear a noise like the dashing of waves. The sea is below the car! It cannot be more than 500 feet from us!" "Overboard with every weight! … everything!”
― Jules Verne, quote from The Mysterious Island

“Oh!' cried Neb, 'suppose it's jam!'
'I hope not,' replied the reporter.”
― Jules Verne, quote from The Mysterious Island

“Beneath the lower point of the balloon swung a car, containing five passengers, scarcely visible in the midst of the thick vapor mingled with spray which hung over the surface of the ocean.”
― Jules Verne, quote from The Mysterious Island

“Powder is but a thing of yesterday, and war is as old as the human race--unhappily.”
― Jules Verne, quote from The Mysterious Island

“Learned, clear-headed, and practical, he fulfilled in all emergencies those three conditions which united ought to insure human success--activity of mind and body, impetuous wishes, and powerful will. He might have taken for his motto that of William of Orange in the 17th century: "I can undertake and persevere even without hope of success.”
― Jules Verne, quote from The Mysterious Island

“The once slave, though free, would not leave his master. He would have died for him. He was a man of about thirty, vigorous, active, clever, intelligent, gentle, and calm, sometimes naive, always merry, obliging, and honest. His name was Nebuchadnezzar, but he only answered to the familiar abbreviation of Neb.”
― Jules Verne, quote from The Mysterious Island

“Now, the earth occupies one of the foci of the ellipse, and so at one point in its course is at its apogee, that is, at its farthest from the sun,”
― Jules Verne, quote from The Mysterious Island

“I am induced to think," said Pencroft, "that this man was not wrecked on Tabor Island, but that in consequence of some crime he was left there.”
― Jules Verne, quote from The Mysterious Island

“In two days there won't be a single leak, and our boat will have no more water in her than there is in the stomach of a drunkard.”
― Jules Verne, quote from The Mysterious Island

“A man of action as well as a man of thought, all he did was without effort to one of his vigorous and sanguine temperament.”
― Jules Verne, quote from The Mysterious Island

“I can undertake and persevere even without hope of success.”
― Jules Verne, quote from The Mysterious Island

“Better have two strings to one’s bow than none at all!”
― Jules Verne, quote from The Mysterious Island

“Could it have passed away in electric sheets, as is sometimes the case with regard to the typhoons of the Indian Ocean?”
― Jules Verne, quote from The Mysterious Island

“Such were the loud and startling words which resounded through the air, above the vast watery desert of the Pacific, about four o'clock in the evening of the 23rd of March, 1865.”
― Jules Verne, quote from The Mysterious Island

“Instigated by princes equally ambitious and less sagacious and more unscrupulous than he was, the people of India were persuaded that they might successfully rise against their English rulers, who had brought them out of a state of anarchy and constant warfare and misery, and had established peace and prosperity in their country. Their ignorance and gross superstition made them the facile tools of their designing chiefs.”
― Jules Verne, quote from The Mysterious Island

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BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.